Would trashing LimeWire (I'm on an iMac with os9) make the computer think the sit files were actually sit files, and not LimeWire documents?

No. Without LimeWire those .sit files that are called LimeWire documents would then become generic documents. Try using an attribute changer such as FileTyper. The .sit archives can have a type of 'SITD' and a creator of 'SIT!'. You can also drag the files onto StuffIt Expander to open them.

i have the same problems with some .sit files ending up in my "shared" folder as limewire documents. i've tried both suggestions above, to no avail. in the "downloads" window of limewire, these docs reach 100%, but when i go to unstuff them, i'm told that this file is not a .sit file. resuming does not work on these files. any suggestions? tia!

All I can think of is maybe the version of expander you're using? There was a major change at 5.??, any earlier version will not recognize a file stuffed using this or later versions.

Of course, there's a fair number of plain old corrupt sit files out there, too.

i'm using version 6.5 of stuffit, so i don't think that is the problem. i checked out mactella in the meantime: faster downloads, fewer incomplete downloads, search results in the hundreds, and no wierdness like i was experiencing with limewire! i think this may be a better option for me, although mactella does not have all of the functions of limewire. but it gets the job done!

Not sure if this helps, and maybe I am a little late on the subject, but I compared the "finished" file size in the Shared folder to the file listed in the Shared Library within the Limewire application.

The "finished" file thinks it is one file size and Limewire says that it has completed a slightly bigger file. So, it seems to me that the file didn't actually complete the download. Again, resuming the download doesn't work because Limewire already thinks it finished the download.